Hajimemashite!

The title means 'Nice to meet you' in Japanese.  This is in reference to the fact that I had to do my self-introduction 12 times this past week.  I'm definitely sick of talking about myself, my family, my dogs, sports, my travels, college, American food, and my friends in dumbed-down English. Highlights include the kids going crazy over Ichiro pics and over one pic of me and some high school friends in my hot tub.  They just kept calling it a big bath.  Oh, and when I explained how the restaurant at the top of the Space Needles revolves once an hour, they started making vomiting gestures in reference to people throwing up their food as the thing spun around. Don't worry, I'll have to do it about 20 more times in 2 weeks when I go to a different junior high school for one week.

I'm going to preface discussing my first week at school with some excerpts from the English textbooks all Japanese students use across the country.....

1) Teacher: Jack, why are you late this afternoon?

    Jack: I broke my ankle.

    Teacher: That's a lame excuse.

2) Karen: Is our school haunted?

     Teacher: I don't think so. Why?

     Karen: The principal is always talking about the school spirit.

3) What do you call an ant who hates school?

     A tru-ant.

4) What must you pay when you go to school?

     Attention.

5) What did the dog get for Christmas?

     A mobile bone.

6) Emi: I want to find some e-pals.

    Mike: Ok, let's surf the internet and find some.

    Emi: Is it difficult?

    Mike: No, many people around the world make friends through computers.

Can I just say CREEPER?!

7) Nana: Everyone in my host family is nice to me.  But my host mother always gives me too much food.  Do I have to eat everything?  It's too much.

    Teacher's answer: You must tell your host mother.  Say, 'I'm sorry,  It's very good but I can't eat that much.'  She will understand.

Yet another example of oversized portions and American obesity.....go figure.

8)  Emi:  But as my host father says, 'Rome was not built in a day.'  It takes work and patience to have a happy family.

9) lyrics to Mariah Carey's 'Hero'

10) lyrics to 'We Are the World' by Michael Jackson and Lionel Ritchie

11) dialogue on Rachel Carson's 'Silent Spring'

12) Mother's Lullaby, a short story about a young mother and her child dying from the radiation set off my atomic bomb in Nagasaki (Oh yeah, this is the lesson the 9th graders are on.  Yay for being the new American!  Awkward.....)

So now you have an idea of the kinds of things I will probably experience everyday.

This week went be relatively quickly.  The first days, the kiddies had back to school testing so I sat around and tried to help out where I could.  On Monday, there was an opening ceremony where I had to go up and say a few words on stage in Japanese, introducing my self to the entire school.  Luckily, I survived.  The vice-principal, whose English is limited but better than the principal's, came up to me exclaimed 'Mariners!' when I was done speaking.  I had to contain my laughter.  

The week's schedule was also out of whack due to upcoming Sports Day, which is on September 14th, yes, a Sunday.  Thankfully, we get the following Tuesday off instead since we have to show up on the weekend.  I was invited to the teachers' enkai (drinking party) post-Sports Day action.  You can bet I'll have my camera out at that little shindig.  My favorite English teacher out of the 3 at this school asked me if I drank and then proceeded to tell me that she really enjoyed cold sake.  This is gonna be a riot come next Sunday!

Speaking of Sports Day, they practice all the darn time.  So far, I have not seen any actual sports balls.  It primarily consists of running activities, marching and random drills.  There is no American equivalent and sometimes I think the kids remind me of Nazi Germany with their bowing and call and response.  And this isn't just at my school either.  Two other JETs in my city compared them to Hitler's little army even before I could.  My mom just about cried laughing when I told her this.  I've heard rumors though that the kids are working on building 6-level human pyramids and run relay races all day long.  I personally haven't seen evidence of this stuff yet but this Wednesday, we have Sports Day practice alllll day long.

Tomorrow, I will be joining the volleyball club.  'Club' because they call all of the sports teams here 'clubs'.  I bought knee pads today - let's just hope I don't collapse on the gym floor.  I opted not to do soccer because I didn't particularly fancy playing on a dirt field.  I'm limiting my participation to Mondays and Wednesdays because I'm going to be taking Japanese classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  And Fridays, well, they are Fridays and time to finally enjoy the weekend away from the kiddies.

As for time away from the kiddies after work, I mainly run errands and go home to relax in the AC.  My commute is conducive to running errands because the main station I go through to switch from the train to the monorail is surrounded by everything and anything.  I can get whatever I need there.  That's not to say, I live out in the boonies because I don't.  It's just easier to get stuff around there.  Y'all know I'm lazy.

Thursday was an exception though.  Another JET and myself went down south to Kokuraminami to meet up with two other city JETs (one of them is on crutches due to a sprained ankle so this was easier) and our Japanese mini-supervisor, who is absolutely hilarious.  I found out she is obsessed with The OC now and watches the episodes in English.  She got all riled up when I accidently slipped that Marissa dies at the end of the third season, hahaha.  We had a delish dinner at a yaki-tori restaurant for about 2 hours.  It honestly was the perfect group of people there and I had a lovely time.  It was just what I needed to help me finish out the week strong.

As for Friday, I stayed about an hour later talking with one of the English teachers.  Then, a bunch of 9th graders bombarded my desk and became entranced by my notebook full of my Japanese practice, vocab, writing, text message translations, etc.  They started helping me with my things and then had me help them with their English.  Yes, it was a corny bonding experience and I loved every minute of it.

After-hours, I ran home, just in time to shower and head back out to meet some JETs for Korean BBQ.  This was my first time eating Korean food!  I tried kimshi (fermented cabbage, way too spicy for me!).  FYI....this is where the expression, 'You're in deep kimshi comes from'.  Well, it started during the Korean War apparently.  I also tried squid (yuck) and cow tongue (very chewy is all I have to say).  One of my friends kept putting things on my plate and every time I would ask what it was, he would say 'just eat it.'  I forgot to mention that at dinner, it was me and seven guys.  Unlike at home, as one of the few females, I'm always outnumbered over here which means I get more crap than usual.  Well, it's comparable to Chris, Shariff, and Co. at W&M.  Did I tell you that this was all-you-can-eat and all-you-can-drink for 90 minutes? It felt like a lot longer than that to be honest. To drink, I went for the umeshou, which is plum wine.  Needless to say, by the time we left, everyone was pretty toasted.  Even after that, we all thought it would be a grand idea to go do all-you-can-drink karaoke for 2 hours at Shidax (our fave place for sing-a-longs).  I think the highlights of the night was singing Bryan Adams's 'All for Love' which is featured on The Three Musketeers Soundtrack circa mid-1990's.  Loooved it!

Yesterday was chill.  Woke up uber-late due to the late night before.  I finally got my furniture (2 small suede couches that sit on the floor and a bed) delivered and my place looks legit now.  I want to have a housewarming party sometime soon and then a 'Swing Vote' theme party.  For the Swing Vote party, people can dress up for Halloween, as election-related things (donkey, elephant, etc), or as something Kevin Costner film related.  I would love to have the soire on the real Election Day, November 4th, but alas that's a Tuesday and we're dealing with a 13-16 hour time difference.  I figure I'll just do it the weekend before and combine it with Halloween.  I fully anticipate ridiculousness ;)

Today was catch-up day as usual.  Sunday grocery shopping, laundry, cleaning, blogging, etc.  One friend came from another part of the city to have lunch with three of us and I got to show him my newly furnished cutesy apartment.  I was proud.  With that in mind, look forward to a Cribs-esque video that shall be posted next weekend after filming goes down on Saturday.

Time for bed.  Peace out.